Porcelain Doll
by Troublefromday2
Summary: "He was drunk, as always, but she never imagined what would happen next. Little Teresa Lisbon. A gun pointed to her head. Her father pulling the trigger." Teresa Lisbon's past and what led her to become who she is. Also an insight into Patrick Jane's tragedy and how these events make them grow closer. Please read and don't forget to review! C:
1. Broken Porcelain Doll

**This is my first Mentalist story. Hope you guys like it! :)**

**Warning: mature themes present in this story.**

**Disclaimer: If i owned the Mentalist i would not be sitting at my crappy laptop in the middle of the night writing stories ;)**

**Chapter 1: Broken Porcelain Doll**

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She was broken like an abandoned, worn-out porcelain doll. He was the only one who could fix her. He was damaged, tainted by guilt and the memories of the family he once had. She was the only one who could help him forget.

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This is not a story about two people finding each other after overcoming a series of trials. It has no humble beginnings and no happy endings because let's face it, this is not a Disney movie.

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Teresa Lisbon was 13 years old when her world came crashing down. Her life changed in a minute when her mother passed away in a car crash. She was left to pick up the pieces. A little girl all alone in a big, scary world. Her father was a good man but good people have breaking points too. After the death of his wife, he broke and no one could fix him. He became an alcoholic, an abuser and often took his anger and frustration out on his children.

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Sometimes she wakes up, eyes red and puffy, lips quivering, and she morphs back into that helpless little girl who had to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders. She'd go back to sleep convincing herself it was only a nightmare only to sink back into that closet in her family home, her father towering over her as she sat on the floor rocking back and forth, letting the harsh strokes of her father's anger taint her soul and bruise her body. Black and blue all over. Then suddenly a rush of red so violent and hateful.

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It doesn't take much for her to fall back into that horrible place on that faithful night, empty bottles of alcohol lying on the living room carpet. Glass on the floor from a broken bottle. Blood painting the once white walls red with fear and regret. She had swung at him. She couldn't take it anymore. How dare he put them through all that pain and misery. He was drunk, as always, but she never imagined what would happen next. Little Teresa Lisbon. A gun pointed to her head. Her father pulling the trigger.

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Her screams shattered the peaceful silence of the early morning and replaced it with haunting shrieks as she struggled to gasp for air. She stumbled out of her lonely, cold bed into the bathroom, her legs finally giving up on her, leaving her a shivering mess on the floor. She suddenly felt sick crawling to the toilet, arriving just in time not to make a mess. She decided to take a bath to calm herself down so she gently got up and took off her shorts and t-shirt, which were too big for her and made her look even more like a little girl. She couldn't help but look in the mirror as she was getting in the tub. Her dark brown hair disheveled from all her tossing and turning, her white skin, a sickly shade of green and the bones sticking out, tugging at her skin giving her a haggard look. Her ghastly expression spoke volumes for the exhaustion and fatigue she felt. She finally got in the tub, soaking in the warm water, washing the bad memories away.

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One could say that it was fate, others call it luck. He was too drunk to aim properly. Police were called after the neighbors heard the loud bang and she and her brothers got taken away and shipped to their aunt. People called her survival a miracle but what they didn't know and could never understand was that she was not afraid to die. It was a morbid thought but she figured that she would leave this wold of pain and misery and finally be reunited with her mother.

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After that life didn't get any easier. Depression, followed by extreme anxiety and a series of eating disorders. A couple of failed suicide attempts and by age 16 Teresa Lisbon was a ticking time bomb. She was finally put in a hospital and after accepting the help of countless doctors and psychologists she started building her life again. She slowly started getting better and better, started living again. Life for Teresa wasn't great but is was bearable which was good enough at the time.

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Nowadays she buries herself in her work and is dedicated to helping other people. With the help of her team she puts criminals behind bars. Yet, she is still broken. Triggers are all around her. Some cases are too much for her to handle and thankfully her team understands that and know better than to ask too many questions. Except Patrick Jane of course. Jane had gone through his fair share of tragedies, and on the outside he looked as if he had it all together, but Teresa knew that he was just another tormented soul trying to find solace and peace in the world and within himself after his only reason for living, his family was selfishly snatched away from him in a haunting and damning conclusion and in turn he understood that she was broken, a beautiful, troubled porcelain doll with a little tiny heart of gold that broke so young and bled so fast and who had to face the soul-less demons that lied inside of her, tormenting her every single day of her life.

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**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Demons

****Thanks for reading and don't forget to review! :)****

******Chapter 2: Demons.******

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She had a feeling before she even walked in through the front door of the middle-class suburban home, with a perfect yard and a perfect white picket fence, that this would be one of those cases she hates right from the start. It hits too close to home. She knew before she got to look at the broken bottles and the cigarette butts lying on the floor. She knew before she had the chance to look at the girl with dark brown hair and big blue eyes that were forever stuck in an expression of pure terror, suffering and utter confusion lying lifeless on the dirty carpet, a bullet hole in her head and blood soaking the floorboards. She knew before she got to look at a gun lying in the hands of a middle aged man, a bullet hole right between his eyes. Then there were the two little boys hiding in the closet, confusion overtaking all other emotions and the horrific memory forever etched in their brains, replaying itself over and over. Their world was shattered. It was a scene Teresa knew all too well. This is how her story could have ended, but it didn't.

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She bolts out of there, dizziness overwhelming all her other senses. It was too much. She pushed past EMT's, LAPD officers, CBI agents and her own team, running, to get to the safety of her car. She closes her eyes, taking deep breaths. There is no way she's working this case. Jane comes over asking if she's okay. Of course she's not! He is fully aware of that. He begs her to let him drive her home insisting that she is in no state to drive and she reluctantly accepts, knowing he is right.

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It's almost midnight when they arrive at her home. She finds the keys and asks Jane if he wants to come inside for a cup of warm tea, but upon entering her bare apartment he realized that she had very different plans for herself. His suspicions were confirmed when she opened up a bottle of Whisky that had been hidden in her kitchen pantry for years and pours herself a shot. One shot, two shot, three. She asks Jane if he wants to join her and he objects. Four shot, five shot, six. He stops counting at fourteen, while she puts her glass aside, drinking from the bottle instead. The bottle falls to the floor, shards of glass everywhere. That's the last she remembers, and him catching her before she hit the ground in an alcohol induced haze.

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He slowly lifts her from the floor as if he were carrying a little child and lays her down in her bed. He takes off her shoes and covers her up, pushing the strands of long, brown hair away from her face, kissing her forehead and leaving without another word.

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She wakes up the next day not remembering most of the events from the other night. The Whisky on her breath could make a small boy dizzy. It was 11 in the morning, which meant that she was late for work. She put herself back together as best she could, got dressed, swallowed a couple of painkillers to subdue the headache from the other night, brushed her teeth thoroughly and got in her car.

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She arrived in her office at the CBI headquarters a little after noon. Her team was eyeing her worriedly from their stations but no one dared say a word. Jane was lying down on his couch staring at the ceiling. He gets up as soon as he hears her arrive and follows her into her office. He utters the four words she really didn't want to hear: "Teresa, about last night...". She assures him that the previous night had been a mistake, that it had never happened before and would never happen again and at the same time wondering if he knew that she was lying. It was all a lie because it had happened before and she was pretty sure it will happen again. Jane just nodded and left her office. She doesn't realize that to him she is an open book. He always knows when she is lying for example last Christmas when she told him she was having dinner with her brothers. He knew that was a lie and that she didn't want to admit that she was going to spend her Christmas alone, eating ice cream on her couch while watching sappy Christmas movies until she fell asleep.

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She thought she was being strong. Keeping all her troubles to herself. Not burdening anyone else with her problems but what she didn't realize was that she was killing herself in the process. Destroying every inch of happiness and peace she felt and replacing it with anger and hate. She asked Hightower to give her team another case, anything but this one but she refused when Teresa didn't want to give her a valid reason for switching cases. If only she knew. So she was stuck, working a case that hit too close to home pulling her back years into the past to the worst time of her life, when all of her hopes and dreams came crashing down in a series of destructive and devastating events that shook her world into oblivion. And now, she finally had to do what she had dreaded doing all these years, face her demons and fight them off in a struggle for her survival. A perfect, little porcelain doll, blessed with 30 years of life but the last 17 have all revolved around one day when the demons settled inside her soul and took over the little porcelain doll denying her from moving on.

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**Guys i need at least a couple of reviews to keep going and please don't be afraid to give me tips and advice on which direction i should take the story! C:**

**Reader Question: Do you want other characters such as VanPelt, Rigsby, Cho and Summer to be more involved or should i focus more on the whole Lisbon and Jane situation? Thank for reading! (:**


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